about the composer

Carl Ruggles (1876-1971) was a maverick composer of chromatic, atonal works which integrated melody and polyphony, a technique musicologist Charles Seeger termed 'dissonant counterpoint.' Ruggles:

"My whole conception is based on the rhythm and movement of line. It's the same in painting. There shouldn't be any straight lines. It's against nature. Did you ever see straight lines in a bunch of flowers, in a sea, on a mountain?"

Ruggles created little more than a dozen compositions, many of which evoke a sense of declamatory majesty and heroism. Given the composer's continual revision of his music, pieces often achieved completed form through the assistance of friends, composers Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison, Edgard Varèse, and pianist John Kirkpatrick. Ruggles' largest and best-known work is the orchestral piece Sun-Treader (1926-1934).

He was born Charles Sprague Ruggles in East Marion, Massachusetts, a descendant of an old New England family on Cape Cod. He learned to play the violin by ear, and first took lessons with local bandmaster and teacher George Hill. In 1891 Ruggles' family moved to Waverley, Massachusetts, eventually settling in Watertown. As a teenager he began performing in chamber groups and theater orchestras in the Boston area. He continued his violin studies with Walter Spaulding and Felix Winternitz, as well as theory with Josef Claus and composition with John Knowles Paine.

In the 1900's Ruggles worked as an engraver, music critic, and lecturer in modern music; he met his future wife, singer Charlotte Snell, at one of his music club lectures. The two relocated to Winona, Minnesota in 1907 to teach at the Mar d'Mar School of Music, and married a year later. There Ruggles founded the Winona Symphony Orchestra, conducting opera and light music; he also studied conducting with violinist Christian Timner. He began to compose his own opera The Sunken Bell in 1912; the Metropolitan Opera took an interest in the work, but Ruggles never finished it and eventually destroyed the score.

Ruggles moved to New York City in 1917, the beginning of his most fruitful compositional period. He taught privately, led an orchestra and chorus at the Rand School of Social Science, and in 1922 joined Edgard Varèse's International Composers' Guild, where his music received more performances and recognition. His orchestral work Men and Mountains (1924-1942) was published in the first issue of Henry Cowell's New Music quarterly. Ruggles settled in Arlington, Vermont in 1924; he met Charles Ives toward the end of the decade, and the two composers became close friends. He held a teaching post at the University of Miami in Florida from 1938 to 1943, and gradually devoted more of his creative energy to painting, although he continued to sketch and revise music throughout his life. In his late years Ruggles received a number of honors including the Brandeis University Creative Arts Award. 'Carl Ruggles Day' was declared in Vermont on his 85th birthday.

Ruggles' music has been recorded on many labels including Albany, Cedille, Centaur, CRI, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Four Winds, Helios, MDG, Music & Arts, New World, Summit, and Teldec.